Duke Belmont: Postgame

When CBS gave me the Duke-Belmont game, I was almost in tears. I didn't want to miss the most the most anticipated first round game, USC-Kansas State. But somehow, CBS knew that Belmont and Duke would be the game of the tournament so far.

Whenever Duke is playing an inferior team, they let them in the game for 35 minutes then win by 20 with meaningless threes and free throws with under a minute to play. In addition to that, a lot of two and three seeds in the NCAA tournament fall into that classic overlooking trap. The underdog goes into the half down a couple but winds up winning by double digits. I figured that both these rules would apply to this game when Belmont was still in the game in the first half.

What Belmont did to almost come away with this contest was remarkable. They beat Duke at their own game. Belmont shot very well from behind the arc, which is what Duke always wants to do. The Blue Devils shot just 6-21 from behind the three point stripe. When Duke is hitting their shots, there are very few teams in the country that can beat them. But when the boys of Durham aren't stroking it, teams like Belmont can give them a run for their money.

Even though I have Duke going to the Elite Eight, I wanted the Bruins to pull away with that game. I threw out my bracket and just pulled for the Cinderella. Belmont is a team that you have to love. Even when they were down, they would keep great body language and a positive attitude on the sideline. From the opening tip, Belmont knew they were in the game and they knew that they could win that game. Duke was up by as much as ten at halftime, but the 15 seed from the Atlantic Sun just refused to go away. Belmont pushed Duke to their limit and refused to go away. The funny thing was that Duke didn't even play THAT bad. Belmont just played that well.

After this game, I think Duke will make a run in the tourney. They got their bad shooting game out of the way early and may start to hit their shots in their next game.

Three questions still remain:

Who was that random country singer on the sidelines they kept showing?

How come whenever a celebrity is at the game, they show him while the game is going on?

How did Henderson go coast to coast on the winning basket?